The present invention relates to a novel coated foodstuff and more particularly to a foodstuff coated with a particulate material derived from fresh root vegetables.
In the preparation of frozen coated food products such as fish, meat or vegetables suitable for oven-cooking, the foodstuff is usually coated with batter, breaded, prefried, deep-frozen and then packaged. The breading material is normally a particulate material such as bread crumbs or shredded cheese, or it may be a particulate material derived from dehydrated potato, for example, potato flakes, potato powder or potato granules. The average size of the particles is such that they usually have an average diameter of from 0.1 to 2.0 mm and the maximum volume of a particle is not usually more than about 10 cubic millimetres. The amount of breading material used in conventional procedures is normally not more than 10% by weight based on the total weight of the product.
It would, however, be very desirable to use particulate material derived from fresh root vegetables, such as potatoes, not only from an organoleptic point of view but also because the final product would have a significantly lower fat content to products coated with conventional coating materials due to the lower uptake of oil by the fresh vegetable in the pre-frying process. However, all our attempts up to the preset time to use such coating materials have not been successful because in conventional equipment the particles of fresh vegetable material tend to stick together to form agglomerates which complicate the mechanical transport and make it impossible to obtain a satisfactory even coating.